Predicting Euler Characteristics and Constructing Topological Structure Using Machine Learning Techniques

arXiv cs.LG / 5/6/2026

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Key Points

  • The paper presents a machine-learning method that predicts topological properties, specifically the Euler characteristic, directly from input images using neural networks.
  • The approach maps an image to an implicit “spin configuration” (via a unit vector field) and then estimates the Euler characteristic by computing the skyrmion number of that configuration.
  • Unlike typical data-hungry pipelines, the model is designed to learn without large pre-existing datasets, using only a single geometric image as input, inspired by techniques from solid-state physics.
  • Because multiple distinct spin configurations can fit the same constraints, the authors reduce ambiguity by adding a physics-informed loss based on a magnetic Hamiltonian (exchange, Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya, and anisotropy terms).
  • The method is validated on complex geometrical shapes and shown to be applicable to practical downstream tasks.

Abstract

This study proposes a novel approach to extract topological properties, specifically the Euler characteristic, from input images using neural networks without relying on large pre-existing datasets but with a single geometric image. Inspired by solid-state physics, where topological properties of magnetic structures are derived from spin field analysis, our model generates a unit vector field from an image, interpreted as a spin configuration. The Euler characteristic is then predicted by computing the skyrmion number of this generated spin configuration. Remarkably, the network learns to construct chiral magnetic textures without access to ground-truth chiral spin configurations, relying instead on only a single, simple geometric image and the straightforward skyrmion number computation. Furthermore, spin configurations generated by independently trained networks can be non-unique due to inherent degrees of freedom. To constrain these degrees of freedom and further refine the spin configuration, we incorporate a magnetic Hamiltonian, comprising exchange interaction, Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya (DM) interaction, and anisotropy, as an additional, physics-informed loss function. We validate the model's efficacy on complex geometrical shapes and demonstrate its applicability to practical tasks.